Automatic fly-brush for doorways.



No. 633 ,5 9L I Patented Sept. 26, I899. I

J. B. HOIT.

AUTOMATIC FLY BRUSH FOR DOORWAYS.

(Application filed Sept. 27, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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JACOB R. HOlT, OF DES MOINES, lOlVA.

AUTOMATIC FLY-BRUSH FOR DOORVVAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,591, dated September 26, 1899. Application 919a September 27,1898. Serial No. 691,994. (No model) T (6 whom it ntay concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB R. HOIT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Poll; and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Automatic Fly- Brush for Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of flybrushes which are located in the door-frame and which are automatically rotated upon the opening and closing of the door to thereby prevent fiies and other insects from entering through the door-opening when persons are passing through same.

My object is to provide a device of simple, strong, and durable construction for protecting and covering the cord for operating the fly-brush and for automatically winding the same evenly and smoothly upon the roller.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows in perspective a door and frame with my improved fly-brush and doorspring in position thereon. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional View of one end of the roller to illustrate the cord protecting and guiding device. Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the opposite end of the.

roller. Fig. 4 shows a transverse section on the indicated line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows a detail of the adjacent end of the vertical and horizontal brushes to illustrate my improved means for connecting them to rotate in unison.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the reference-numeral is used to indicate the door-frame, and 11 a screen-door hinged to the frame in the ordinary way. At the top of the door-frame and at a point midway between the sides of same I have located a roller 12, having at one end a fixed rounded projection 13 to enter a suitable bearin g 011 the door-frame. In the other end of the roller a rod 14 is rotatably mounted and has its end projected beyond the roller to serve as a bearing. A coil-spring 15 is wound upon this rod within the roller,and on e end is fixed to the rod, while the other is fixed to the roller. Hence when the spring is under tension and the rod is fixed the roller will be rotated. -I have provided a bearing 16,in which this rod may turn. Said bearing is designed to be attached to the door-frame by means of the nails 17, having projecting heads, and to the rod is fixed a spring-crank 18 to normally engage said heads. When it is desired to adjust the tension of the spring, said crank is drawn from engagement with the nail-heads and turned until the proper tension is received. Then it will automatically engage the nearest head. This may obviously be done without in any way disturbing the other parts of the device. On the said roller I have secured a brush 19, preferably made of cloth that is partially stiffenedsuch, for instance, as the material used in window-shades. The various sections of same project at right angles to the roller and serve the double purpose of preventing the entrance of flies and acting as a means of diminishing the speed of rotation of the roller, so that the door is closed slowly and without slamming.

v The numeral 20 indicates a cord fixed at one end to the door, at the upper corner thereof, and having its central portion passed over a swiveled direction-pulley 21, which is at tached to the door-frame, and the other end portion of the cord is wound upon and attached to the end of the roller. Hence when the door is opened the roller is rotated and its spring wound up, and when released the Y door will automatically close and the cord be wound again upon the roller. I have provided the following means for protecting this cord and for winding it smoothly and evenly upon the roller:

22 indicates a sleeve slidingly mounted on the end of the roller, and 23 a spring fixed to the sleeve and impinging a shoulder 24, formed on the roller. The cord is passed through an opening in the sleeve and then wound upon the roller, to which its other end is fixed. Obviously when the door is opened the cord will pull upon the sleeve and tend to compress the spring and move the sleeve longitudinally upon the roller as the cord unwinds. Then when the door is released the cord is slackened, and the spring may force the sleeve back to its position While the cord is being wound evenly and smoothly upon the roller.

1 have also provided an auxiliary fly-brush 25 to extend vertically and designed to be attached to the inner face of the door frame at the side opposite from the door-hinges. This brush is constructed in a similar manner to the other brush and is made to operate in unison therewith by means of the following unique and simple device:

A cord 26 is Wound upon the horizontal roller at an end and upon the vertical roller at its other end, and these ends are arranged to overlap each other. By this means the cord is prevented from sliding on either roller,

and said rollers are connected and made to rotate synchronously just as effectually as though geared together. 4

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

The combination, with an automatic flybrush and screen-door closer, comprising a 25 roller and fly-brush mounted in the top of a door-frame, a spring for operating it in one direction and a cord attached to the door for operating it in the opposite direction, of an annular shoulder on the said roller, an exten- 3o sile coil-spring on the roller with its one end in engagement with said shoulder and capable of rotation upon the roller, a sleeve slidingly mounted on the roller to cover the spring and having an opening therein, the said cord 3 5 

